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Featured Reports

Stuck in the Cul-de-Sac

Carlton Haelig, Philip Sheers | October 21, 2025

Countering the Digital Silk Road

Vivek Chilukuri, Ruby Scanlon | October 15, 2025

Tipping the Scales

Caleb Withers | September 23, 2025

Countering the Swarm

Stacie Pettyjohn, Molly Campbell | September 10, 2025

Defense
Stuck in the Cul-de-Sac

For more than a decade, the United States has sought to modernize its military to deter China, but it has become stuck in a developmental cul-de-sac that has allowed China to ...

Technology & National Security
Countering the Digital Silk Road

The year 2025 marks the 10th anniversary of the Digital Silk Road (DSR), China’s effort to strengthen its global ties and influence through technology. In the decade since the...

Technology & National Security
Tipping the Scales

This report examines how emerging AI capabilities could disrupt the cyber offense-defense balance....

Defense
Countering the Swarm

After decades of air dominance and a near monopoly on precision strike, the United States now faces a dramatically different, more hostile world as the proliferation of cheap ...

AMERICA'S EDGE

The United States faces a rapidly changing global security landscape. Evolving technology, shifting alliances, and emerging threats require America to harness bold, innovative approaches. The CNAS 2025 national security conference, America’s Edge: Forging the Future, will bring together bipartisan leaders, policymakers, and industry to chart a vision for enhancing America’s global edge.

CNAS 2025 National Security Conference | America's Edge: Forging the Future

Jun 3, 2025

The First 100 Days

The First 100 Days is a series of recommendations from CNAS experts. The recommendations span the most pressing issues that will test the administration, including competition...

Global Swing States
Global Swing States and the New Great Power Competition

International politics is undergoing a period of rapid, significant change. China and Russia are working together more closely and alongside Iran and North Korea...

Press

In The News

Energy, Economics & Security
Venezuela’s Oil Is a Focus of Trump’s Campaign Against Maduro
The Nobel Peace Prize winner made her pitch by live video to a business conference in Miami attended by American executives and politicians, including President Trump....

By Edward Fishman
- The New York Times
- December 17, 2025
In The News

National Security Human Capital Program
Privatizing Galleys Is an ‘Open Question,’ Says Navy’s Top Enlisted Leader
The Navy is delving into the issue of whether to privatize some of its shore-based dining facilities while considering how such a move might disadvantage the service’s cooks, ...

By Katherine L. Kuzminski
- Task and Purpose
- December 16, 2025
In The News

Energy, Economics & Security
Donald Trump Stiffs Farmers and China Stiffs Donald Trump
Welcome to the antepenultimate Trade Secrets newsletter of 2025. It doesn’t look like we’re going to get the US Supreme Court ruling on President Donald Trump’s tariffs before...

By Emily Kilcrease
- Financial Times
- December 15, 2025
In The News

Indo-Pacific Security / Technology & National Security
China Hawks Dig in to Bitcoin Mining
American national security hawks, long wary of Chinese technology, have turned their sights towards a new target: bitcoin mining....

By Daniel Remler & David Feith
- The Wire China
- December 14, 2025
In The News

Indo-Pacific Security
U.S. Nvidia Chips to China: What Does That Mean for the AI Race?
During the Cold War, U.S. policy on export controls for advanced technology meant that the United States prevented sales to adversaries to stifle competition as rival countrie...

By Jacob Stokes
- The Christian Science Monitor
- December 12, 2025

Featured
Audio & Video

Events

Past Event
- Dec 4, 2025
The Boat Strikes: Drug Trafficking, Military Engagement, and the Law
Past Event
- Dec 3, 2025
Natural Allies? U.S.-India Relations in a Time of Trouble
Past Event
- Nov 20, 2025
Prepared, Not Paralyzed: Managing AI Risks to Drive American Leadership

Our Research Programs

Defense
- Defense
  Golden Dome: The Astronomical Cost of Defeating ‘Any Foreign Aerial Attack’
  Just days into his second administration, President Donald Trump signed an executive order attempting to do what no other commander in chief has done: build a system for the U...
  
  By Becca Wasser
  - In The News
- Defense
  Annual Defense Policy Bill Calls for Psychological Study on Drone Operators, Analysts
  By Molly Campbell
  - In The News
- Defense
  Japan Builds up ‘Missile Archipelago’ near Taiwan to Counter China
  By Franz-Stefan Gady
  - In The News
Indo-Pacific Security
- Indo-Pacific Security / Technology & National Security
  China Hawks Dig in to Bitcoin Mining
  American national security hawks, long wary of Chinese technology, have turned their sights towards a new target: bitcoin mining....
  
  By Daniel Remler & David Feith
  - In The News
- Indo-Pacific Security
  U.S. Nvidia Chips to China: What Does That Mean for the AI Race?
  By Jacob Stokes
  - In The News
- Indo-Pacific Security
  U.S. Strategy Shifts Focus to China, Urges South Korea to Redesign Security with Nuclear Options
  By Lisa Curtis
  - In The News
National Security Human Capital Program
- National Security Human Capital Program
  Privatizing Galleys Is an ‘Open Question,’ Says Navy’s Top Enlisted Leader
  The Navy is delving into the issue of whether to privatize some of its shore-based dining facilities while considering how such a move might disadvantage the service’s cooks, ...
  
  By Katherine L. Kuzminski
  - In The News
- National Security Human Capital Program
  Short Supply
  By Katherine L. Kuzminski & Taren Sylvester
  - Reports
- National Security Human Capital Program
  Military Influencers Are Going Viral, and the Pentagon’s Social Media Rules Aren’t Keeping Up
  By Dr. Jason Dempsey
  - In The News
Transatlantic Security
- Transatlantic Security
  Can the Global Order Be Saved? Not Without Punishing Russia
  The only way to succeed in the urgent task of achieving a just peace settlement, therefore, is radically reshaping Russia’s calculus....
  
  By Nicholas Lokker
  - Commentary
- Transatlantic Security
  CNAS Insights | Russia Is Winning the Battle for Influence in Nigeria
  By Kate Johnston
  - Commentary
- Transatlantic Security
  Transatlantic Tensions in the New National Security Strategy
  By Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Jim Townsend
  - Podcast
Middle East Security
- Middle East Security
  Chinese Demand for Oil Remains Key
  Oil advanced from its lowest level since 2021 after President Donald Trump ordered a blockade of sanctioned tankers off Venezuela. Rachel Ziemba, CNAS adjunct senior fellow an...
  
  By Rachel Ziemba
  - Video
- Middle East Security
  After the Deal
  By Delaney Soliday & Shivane Anand
  - Reports
- Transatlantic Security / Middle East Security
  The Russia-Iran Partnership: A Geopolitical Balancing Act
  By Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Jim Townsend
  - Podcast
Energy, Economics & Security
- Energy, Economics & Security
  Venezuela’s Oil Is a Focus of Trump’s Campaign Against Maduro
  The Nobel Peace Prize winner made her pitch by live video to a business conference in Miami attended by American executives and politicians, including President Trump....
  
  By Edward Fishman
  - In The News
- Energy, Economics & Security / Technology & National Security
  Recommendations for Promoting American AI Abroad
  By Janet Egan, Geoffrey Gertz, Daniel Remler & Ruby Scanlon
  - Commentary
- Energy, Economics & Security
  Donald Trump Stiffs Farmers and China Stiffs Donald Trump
  By Emily Kilcrease
  - In The News
Technology & National Security
- Energy, Economics & Security / Technology & National Security
  Recommendations for Promoting American AI Abroad
  Strategic Context and Program Objectives The American AI Exports Program is an ambitious and essential proposal to expand the reach of American AI technologies in foreign mar...
  
  By Janet Egan, Geoffrey Gertz, Daniel Remler & Ruby Scanlon
  - Commentary
- Indo-Pacific Security / Technology & National Security
  China Hawks Dig in to Bitcoin Mining
  By Daniel Remler & David Feith
  - In The News
- Technology & National Security
  Defense One Radio, Ep. 200: Paul Scharre Explains the Global AI Arms Race
  By Paul Scharre
  - Podcast
Securing U.S. Democracy Initiative
- Securing U.S. Democracy Initiative
  Pentagon Officials on Capitol Hill to Brief Congress on Double-Tap Boat Strike
  Pentagon officials made their case for the double-tap strike, saying survivors were still “in the fight” and were radioing for help. But is that legally enough to justify the ...
  
  By Carrie Cordero
  - Video
- Securing U.S. Democracy Initiative
  Colombian Family Files Legal Complaint on U.S. Strikes in Caribbean
  By Carrie Cordero
  - Video
- Securing U.S. Democracy Initiative
  White House Blew past Legal Concerns in Deadly Strikes on Drug Boats
  By Carrie Cordero
  - In The News
Global Swing States
- Global Swing States
  How the U.S. and South Africa Could Use the G20 to Plot a Path Forward
  In the contest for the future of global order, South Africa’s choices will have a disproportionate impact on the outcome....
  
  By Richard Fontaine & Gibbs McKinley
  - Commentary
- Global Swing States
  Losing the Swing States
  By Richard Fontaine & Gibbs McKinley
  - Commentary
- Global Swing States
  New CNAS Report Argues Six “Global Swing States” Will Shape the New Great Power Competition
  - Press Release